[A]lthough the nations may agree to eliminate nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction from the arsenals of the world, the knowledge of how to produce such weapons can never be destroyed. They remain for all time a potential threat to mankind. In any future major war, each belligerent will feel not only free but compelled to undertake immediate production of nuclear weapons; no state, when at war, can be sure that such steps are not being taken by the enemy. We believe that, in such a situation, a major industrial power would require less than one year to begin accumulating weapons. From then on, the only restraint against their employment in war would be agreements not to use them, which were concluded in times of peace… the decisive power of nuclear weapons, however, would make the temptation to use them almost irresistible, particularly to leaders that are facing defeat.

Martin Underwood, Joseph Rotblat: a man of conscience in the nuclear age, Brighton [England] ; Portland, Or, 2009, p. 57